A network of networks: The next frontier for Big Team Science

Over the past decade, grass-roots Big Team Science (BTS) organizations – self-organized groups of researchers working together towards a common goal – have transformed research in the social sciences by enabling unprecedented collaboration, sample diversity, and methodological rigor. Yet as individual networks have multiplied, BTS faces a fundamental challenge: the rapid scaling of large-scale collaborative research has outpaced systematic understanding of what makes it effective. This knowledge gap results in networks reinventing approaches rather than building systematically on collective experience. Here, we introduce the concept of a network-of-networks: a coordinated ecosystem approach that connects existing BTS initiatives and community partners to develop and share knowledge, infrastructure, and inclusive practices. We use the CONNECT (Coordinated Network of Networks for Enhancing Collaborative Teams) partnership as an exemplar of this next phase of collaborative science, which integrates metascientific inquiry with participatory action research to improve workflows, co-develop scalable tools, and promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA). By applying systematic, evidence-based approaches to collaborative practices themselves, this meta-collaborative approach moves BTS from trial-and-error toward systematic understanding of effective collaboration, laying the groundwork for a more reproducible, inclusive, and sustainable global research ecosystem.